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  • Cubslover
    If you are anything like me, you're completely fascinated by historical pictures and history in general.

    I was barely two years old when Chernobyl experienced it's catastrophic disaster. To this day I had no idea how bad it actually was or what kind of regional effect it had on the area and surrounding countries.


    There are still workers employed at the plant. The remaining 3 reactors remained in service until December 2000. Workers are still employed at the site, although it is completely shut down, because the remaining three reactors still contain nuclear fuel and need to be watched 24/7/365. They still have to pump cooling water to the remaining 3 cores even though they are not running.

    The radiation levels in the worst-hit areas of the reactor building just after the meltdown have been estimated to be 5.6 r?ntgen per second (R/s), which is equivalent to 20,000 r?ntgen per hour (R/h). A lethal dose is around 500 r?ntgen over 5 hours, so in some areas, unprotected workers received fatal doses within several minutes. However, at the time of the disaster, the plant's staff didn't know about the true radiation levels.

    Wikipedia: This link gives full detail about the events leading up to the disaster. When reading it, it made the hair on the back of my neck stand up knowing what was going to happen.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chernobyl_disaster


    C&P:

    First, let's learn a little something about radiation. It is really very simple, and the device we use for measuring radiation levels is called a Geiger counter . If you flick it on in Kiev, it will measure about 12-16 microroentgen per hour. In a typical city of Russia and America, it will read 10-12 microroentgen per hour. In the center of many European cities it will read about 20 microR per hour. 1,000 microroentgens equal one milliroentgen and 1,000 milliroentgens equal 1 roentgen. So one roentgen is 100,000 times the average radiation of a typical city. A dose of 500 roentgens within 5 hours is fatal to humans. Interestingly, it takes about 2 1/2 times that dosage to kill a chicken and over 100 times that to kill a cockroach. This sort of radiation level can not be found in Chernobyl now. In the first days after explosion, some places around the reactor(reactor 4) were emitting 3,000-30,000 roentgens per hour. The firemen who were sent to put out the reactor fire were fried on the spot by gamma radiation. The remains of the reactor were entombed within an enormous steel and concrete sarcophagus, so it is now relatively safe to travel to the area - as long as one does not step off of the roadway and do not nose around in the wrong place.
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  • Mk 19
    Thanks for posting those Heff, it sure is strange to see miles of miles of nobody, just the empty remains of a great town in a very beautiful land
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  • tobefree
    Reminds me of Andre Norton's city in STARMAN'S SON (DAYBREAK: 2250 AD)
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  • Marc1301
    Very interesting,....thanks.
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  • spurgemastur
    i enjoyed that. the author's semi-bad english was fun to read. he has a nice way of putting things.
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  • dheffley
    quote:Originally posted by spurgemastur
    i enjoyed that. the author's semi-bad english was fun to read. he has a nice way of putting things.


    It's a she and she does these rides through there about every two years or so. Her English is much better than my Russian, that's for sure.

    Goodle "kid of speed Chernobyl" and look at some of her other rides.
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  • mateomasfeo
    I remember something similar not long ago posted here. Thanks for posting the link. A very interesting situation to say the least.

    We all live in "Whoville..."
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  • elkoholic
    Thanks for posting.
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  • jc_crazyhorse
    I know a woman that goes over there every couple of years to set up hospitals. Some of the stories she told me were pretty interesting.
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  • Henry0Reilly
    quote:Originally posted by mateomasfeo
    I remember something similar not long ago posted here.


    04/30/2007 8:36:28 PM

    04/14/2006 10:25:42 AM
    09/26/2005 2:08:03 PM
    05/04/2005 8:19:24 PM
    04/20/2004 07:04:37 AM
    03/29/2004 09:16:48 AM
    03/07/2004 1:38:41 PM
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  • mateomasfeo
    quote:Originally posted by Henry0Reilly
    quote:Originally posted by mateomasfeo
    I remember something similar not long ago posted here.


    04/30/2007 8:36:28 PM

    04/14/2006 10:25:42 AM
    09/26/2005 2:08:03 PM
    05/04/2005 8:19:24 PM
    04/20/2004 07:04:37 AM
    03/29/2004 09:16:48 AM
    03/07/2004 1:38:41 PM



    Damn! Bored today Henry?

    Good job.
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  • MVP
    Kind of funny how the vegitation and wildlife flourish in that contaminated area.
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  • MVP
    I wonder if that was were Mo Grits is from?[:o)]
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  • Slow_Hand
    Hard to believe over 20 years have passed since then.
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  • buschmaster
    quote:In the first days after explosion, some places around the reactor(reactor 4) were emitting 3,000-30,000 roentgens per hour. The firemen who were sent to put out the reactor fire were fried on the spot by gamma radiation.yup, to put that in perspective, when the US army wanted to develop tactical battlefield nukes, they wanted to know how much dosage needed to (pretty much) instantly kill personnel. I think it was 5,000 rad/hr. note, that's what was wanted from the explosion of a 'tactical nuke'; the 3,000 to 30,000 above was continuous output. that's one hellacious mound of molten gunk.
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  • tapwater
    ...Thanks. I usually post the "kid of speed" site about once a year for newbies or those that missed it. One of her treks is about WWII relic hunting and exploring old bunkers. Plus, she's not too hard on the eyes, either.
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  • 11BravoCrunchie
    Here's her homepage:

    http://www.elenafilatova.com/
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  • thunderbolt
    Tobefree: Good book, wasn't it? It would have been a good movie.
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  • tapwater
    ....I'm aware of the controversy that's surrounded her exploits for years. Even if some it is fabricated, I think the basic facts are presented well. What happened, happened. If she got the "official tour", the pics are still worth looking at.

    ......I'd hit that.....[;)]

    [img][/img]filatova.jpg
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  • j2k22
    this lady has achieved a lot more than most of us will in our lifetimes. Takes a lot of drive to document the volumes of history found on her website, and a lot of guts to explore those underground bunkers and battlefields still littered with UXO.
    I learned a lot from touring the WW2 material- well worth the time spent. My heartfelt thanks ( and PayPal donation) to her for making this material accessible from the comfort and conveniemce of the net.
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